1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor arithmetic circuit and data processing device, and more particularly relates to a highly functional semiconductor integrated circuit and data processing device capable of executing size comparisons of a plurality of inputted data at high speed in a time-continuous manner using hardware.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the fields of data processing and automatic control, the comparison of data expressed in numerical values and determinations as to the relative size thereof serve an extremely important function.
For example, examples thereof include the selection of the larger of two numbers, the extraction of data having a maximum value among a plurality of inputted data, and so-called sorting, in which a plurality of data are arranged by size of the numerical values thereof.
Such operations are normally conducted by using calculators; however, because a large number of operations are required, time is required and the use thereof in real-time control is extremely difficult. In particular, in the case of use in the control of robots and the like, calculations must be carried out by equipment attached to the robots, so that realization using small LSI chips is desired.
However, when attempts are made to conduct such processing via the programming of microprocessors, an extremely large amount of time is required, and practical application is essentially impossible. For this reason, research and development has been conducted into the production of a circuit which is capable of directly conducting size comparisons using hardware; however, a large number of elements are required in order to realize such a circuit, and operations must be conducted through a number of stages, so that small-scale LSI which is capable of high speed operations has not been realized.